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Strategy

Black Sea Poker has a twofold strategy: one for video poker and one for online poker. The online poker strategy will be added later, as I do more research (there is very little in the way of online-specific strategy done, and I will be spearheading the search so it takes more time) but here is a proven strategy to help you beat Jacks Or Better video poker.

Firstly you must remember that video poker is vastly different to land-based poker, as you’re playing against the house rather than other players, and the house edge is set and cannot be changed. Though the disadvantage of this is that you can’t come across a naive amateur who you can take for all their money, the advantages far outweigh this – the simple fact that the game is more structured and more predictable makes it more possible to profit from this exciting game.

Step 1 – Analyze

Obviously if you’re dealt a royal flush, you’ll be keeping the hand. But things are not always so simple. So the first step is to analyze the hand and study hand rankings so well that you can ‘see through the matrix’ and see the potential of your dealt hand to be a winning hand.

Step 2 – Decide

Decide which cards you’ll keep and which you’ll discard. I prefer to use the Wizard Of Odds’ list for statistical analysis on which cards to keep based on the average returns for each situation.

Step 3 – Know The Exceptions

Sometimes this strategy is counter intuitive but you can’t go wrong with the numbers: for example, you may think a suited 10 and Ace are a good hand, but it is a statistical nightmare to profit from. Discard the ten and only keep the Ace.

Step 4 – Practice, Practice, Practice

This is pretty self-explanatory! The more you use this strategy the more it will become instinct, so don’t beat yourself up if you’re not up to scratch on your first try. Keep going and you’ll be the best poker player it’s possible to be.